This is one of my top reads of the year so far!

I loved everything about this and I cannot wait for Jessica to release more books!

The main characters were both great, the chemistry and development between them both had me hooked. The setting of the book was also a bonus!

Oh I really enjoyed this one, which was a huge surprise to me because second chance romances are jot my usual go-to. But again, Jessica Joyce just knows how to write a good, enticing, heartfelt book!

Eli, the paper rings? Such a sweetheart. Georgia, the constant need to fix things and be there for your people so they don't leave you behind, is such a relatable characteristic for me.

I loved all of the characters, even the side characters were so relatable! The friend group they had was so heart warming. I had to laugh at all the things that went wrong for the wedding though, I think I'd start believing I was cursed after all of that!

5 stars, 10/10, highly recommend.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!!

anything jessica writes, i will be reading. this is so wholesome and i loved every second. the covers of her books never miss and i cannot wait for more of her work to come.

i can’t believe i have only just got round to reading this!
what a great story, beautifully written with characters that you want to get to know more.
would be a great holiday read to lose yourself in

I loved the book! It was by first book by the author en don’t be the last! The characters were really relatable, the chemistry was amazing! I had a good time reading it! Highly recommended 😍

that was messy in every way possible. the messiness IS the plot. Georgia and Eli are both messy individually and as a couple.

Adam, their mutual best friend, is getting married in less than 2 weeks but the wedding prep so far is a myriad of disasters. literally nothing went right. the peak is when their supposedly wedding venue caught on fire so they need to find a new venue and basically starting the ceremony-related prep from scratch. being the good best friends, at the same time Georgia and Eli volunteered to help fix things on the new venue and Adam was thrilled so they couldn't refuse even if that meant they have to work together and help each other after they had a messy broken up 5 years ago. and because they came to meet every vendor together, those vendors always assumed that they're the ones who's getting married. and they're too tired to correct them.

so in short, this book is about wedding prep simulation between a couple of exes in less than 2 weeks.

when the book started, it's already full of history since Georgia and Eli met at high school, became best friends with Adam, turned into a couple, then turned into strangers after they break up but still putting on "we're okay" act whenever they're around Adam.

when the roots of their break up 5 years ago, i was a little frustrated because they were just only 23!!! SO young!!! very understandable that they didn't have their shits together. i didn't really care about he wedding prep stuff. it's really messy to the point that it's unbelievable. but the last chapters, when Georgia and Eli finally TALK, really touched my heart. i wept a little.

I really enjoyed this book. Jessica Joyce is a fantastic author at writing second-chance romance. I loved Eli and Georgia. I did feel at times the characters were a little repetitive in what they were doing and saying. It was full of angst, it was messy yet it was beautiful. Messy and beautiful are always a great read.

thanks to netgalley, Jessica Joyce and the publisher for allowing me this ARC.

I absolutely adored You, With a View so I was so excited to read this one!

And it didn't disappoint. I loved the main characters of Eli and Georgia and how their relationship played out as the book went on.
I will say that I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second. If it had been as strong all the way through it would definitely have been a 5 star! But the miscommunication and intensity in the second half was a bit much for me, Georgia was getting a bit repetitive with what she was saying with regards to their relationship and I think a lot of it could have been cut back... having said that though, still a solid 4 stars!

The side characters were brilliant and really brought together the themes of friendship and they all had such fun personalities. I'm not always a huge fan of the second chance romance trope, but I really enjoyed it in this one.

I loved the concept of the wedding 'curse' and they way this brought the main characters together, it was so entertaining reading about how they found their way around all these different challenges.

Jessica Joyce's writing is really great, she is clearly a very talented author! And I will look forward to what she brings out next!

The romance in this book was my favourite aspect. Given its second-chance nature, it had a challenging task, but it truly delivered. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about their relationship. My favourite scene was when Eli wrote down 212 things he liked about her. I was also captivated by the subtle touches, the meaningful glances they shared, and how their relationship evolved and ultimately came together.

The author built a strong foundation for their relationship, making their breakup feel incredibly real. The way everything was communicated was exceptionally well done, adding depth and authenticity to the story.

http://thesecretbookreview.co.uk

Firstly, thank you to Net Galley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the ARC.

This was, without a doubt, a 5 star read for me. I was absolutely captivated by this story, and by Eli and Georgia. This is such a brilliant, romantic, emotional, second chance romance featuring other tropes such as forced proximity and ‘it’s always been you’.

I immediately knew Eli and Georgia were meant to be together, even with all the tension at the start over who would be helping Adam. They are definitely two souls that are very much intertwined. To quote Wuthering Heights ‘Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same’.

I like that we got to see their relationship in the past as well as the present, and understand what drove them apart. When she found out why he had been making and giving her those paper rings, I got a bit teary. They both had their own personal obstacles to overcome before they could find their way back to each other - you could definitely see a growth in both characters from the past and present.

There is a beautiful case of found family with this friendship group. I adored all of the friendships within this book with all of the secondary characters really helping to bring the plot to life.

Both Eli and Georgia are very relatable characters. Readers will definitely be able to see themselves in these characters. The discussion around mental health and burnout in regard to Eli hopefully will prompt more conversations on this topic with men as well as women.

4.5

A messy yet genuine second chance romance that I loved! The characters had great chemistry, both were likeable and sweet and I was really rooting for them! As with any good second chance romance, this is full of ANGST and tension and it was incredibly emotional. This really felt like reading about two real people, which I think goes to show the author's talent as making her characters feel so true to life. I do think the side characters felt a little.... flat? I didn't particularly love any of them and I didn't feel like they were all that distinguishable from each other. However, Eli and Georgia were amazing, he is THE book boyfriend, and Jessica Joyce is absolutely an auto-buy author for me now.

This is book #62 and my second 5star read of 2024.

The only reason it took me TWO FULL MONTHS to read this book is because I had to put it down every two chapters for at least a week, because I was crying. But it was really more like sobbing and ugly crying.
I was not expecting to feel all the feelings that I felt while reading. But I did.

I read “You, With a View” earlier this year and absolutely loved it, so I was even more excited to read the author’s follow up novel.

The writing was great. Really, really great. Amazing even.
The emotions? The HURT ? The FEELINGS? This book truly had everything.
And by everything, I do mean everything.

Georgia and Eli’s story is so heartbreaking (literally), but so wonderful at the same time. Jessica managed to capture all of the good, the ugly and the messy in words in a way that makes it really hard not to feel everything the characters were feeling.
I loved how we got to see the past and present and all of the change that happened in between, especially when we got towards the end and we got to see them communicating their wants and needs and figuring out their future.

I also really loved the side characters! Every single one of them. They were funny, thoughtful, loving and everything you would want to have in a really good friend.

I’m not really into second-chance romances, but if they were all written like that, maybe I need to change my stance on that.
If you enjoyed Emily Henry’s ‘Happy Place’, this might be something you want to try as well, as it has the same kind of sentiment ‘Happy Place’ has. Just worse, but in the best way possible.

I highly recommend it.

10/10 no notes.

"Al the good stuff and the messy stuff an even bad stuff. I want all of it."
If I could give this more stars I would. I loved this book so much. This second chance romance story will capture your heart. I loved Georgia and Eli, their story just made me cry. I want someone to make me paper rings like Eli did for Georgia (all I will say is wait until you get to Chapter 34).
Gorgeous gorgeous book.
Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the eARC.

I loved this book so much! I want to tell everyone to read this book because it was just the perfect romance that I wanted. I will read anything Jessica Joyce writes.

Oh wow what a great read. I laughed, cried and wanted more.

A lovely second chance romance you should definitely pick up and add to your collection.

This author is top notch and will be reading more. .

I may also be in love with those characters... In my defense, Joyce truly managed to create and write tangible characters with amazing chemistry and personality, depth and just to build up a relationship that made absolute sense. These characters made sense together in a way I just can't explain.

I really enjoyed this. Definitely preferred this to the first book and really wanted to read the story of Georgia and Eli. I found all the wedding disruptions a little unrealistic but I went with it. Overall I really enjoyed it

I’ve been so excited for this book after reading her first one, and I was not disappointed.
The tension, the banter, just everything about the 2 MC’s was incredible.
I will forever love Joyce’s writing; she’s an unforgettable author in the best way.

Thank you for my earc of this book. I enjoyed both the premise and execution of this book and in particular like the friendships and secondary characters, but I feel like it was too long at times and could have been edited down.

This book was such a ride of emotions. Not only did it touch on deeper themes of anxiety and insecurity but still made me kick my feet and giggle with glee. This is the perfect second chance romance and honestly I had slouch a good time reading it. I will definitely be checking out more of this authors work because this was a romantic masterpiece.